ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 N339

The calling notice and agenda for this meeting were originally
circulated as N334.

The 33rd meeting of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9 (Ada) was hosted by ACM
SIGAda in conjunction with the Tri-Ada'97 conference. It was held
in Room 312 of the Holiday Inn Riverfront hotel in conjunction with
the Tri-Ada'97 conference,
http://www.acm.org/sigada/tri-ada/.

The minutes of the
London meeting, available as document N333,
were unanimously approved by resolution.
The resolutions approved at the London meeting are available as document
N331. No corrections to these documents were proposed.

Report of France

AFNOR met on October 27th in preparation of the WG9 meeting. We voted Yes
on the ASIS proposal, Yes to the proposed response to defects report in
the Posix/Ada binding, and Yes with participation (G. Motet) to the HRG
proposal.

Some members expressed concerns because the summary of voting on the
numerics proposal did not include a mention that our proposed revised
(French) title had been accepted. I think it is normal for this
document, but please make sure that we get a notice of it being formally
accepted (maybe a motion at the meeting).

We approved all proposed AIs, with a comment on AI182. It says (2nd
paragraph of summary):

"7.6.1(13) is modified so that an anonymous object is not finalized
until after it is no longer accessible via any name".

Although we agree with the intent, all other AIs state the precise new
wording, and we think the same should be done for this one.

Report of Germany

Germany has a need for Ada programmers.
Germany now has a DIN counterpart to WG9.

Report of Japan

The official activities to make
a JIS Standard of Ada 95 have not yet begun. At this time we cannot
show the schedule of the standardization work. In fact, there
exists an informal translation of Ada 95 (ISO/IEC 8652:1995) into
Japanese. It was prepared by a private group formed as an activity
of the Japanese chapter of ACM SIGAda. This translation can be
used as a base document of the JIS Standard, but it is not an
easy task to make it conform to JIS rules (especially in style
issues).

Report of Netherlands

Netherlands continues to support the work of the Annex H RG.

Report of Sweden

Sweden will participate in the HRG.

Report of UK

The UK continues to support the work of the HRG.

Report of US

The US would like a discussion of Ada interfaces to Java,
C++, and possibly ODBC; we think that there is a possible
need to begin a working group.

WG9 Web Page

When asked if the WG9 web site was being used productively, members from all
national bodies responded in the affirmative.

Copyrights on ISO Working Documents

From N328 and N329,
Convener's 1997 Report: [One of] the most important task[s]
of WG9 is to set up a defect resolution and clarification process
for IS 8652; this work would eventually lead to formal COR or
AMD documents or to a revision of the base standard. So that preliminary
defect reports and clarifications may be properly circulated among
the entire community of concern, it is necessary that they be
openly available without copyright restrictions. The current uncertainty
regarding the copyright issue endangers satisfactory performance
of this task. Even the one-year trial relaxation of the policy
is inadequate because the threat remains that once such material
is introduced into the JTC1 process, it is subject to imposition
of copyright in the future.

From N335, WG9 Convener's Report
of SC22 Plenary Meeting: In behalf of WG9, I requested that
SC22 make a request to JTC1 to allow WG9 to provide public access
to any Technical Corrigenda document prepared for the Ada standard.
(Public access is already permitted for Defect Reports and Working
Group Responses.) This request was approved; it is anticipated
that JTC1 will approve the request because there is precedent.

From SC22 Secretariat's note to JTC1 Secretariat: At the
August 18-21, 1997 meeting of JTC 1/SC22, SC22 passed a resolution
requesting ISO/IEC JTC 1 to request ITTF to permit SC22/WG9 (Ada)
to make publicly available the Technical Corrigenda and Record
of Responses for ISO/IEC 8652:1995 - Programming Language Ada.

From SC22 Chairman's report from JTC1 Plenary: JTC1 instructed
the JTC1 Secretariat to request approval from the ISO and IEC
Councils to place on the World Wide Web the Technical Corrigenda
and Records of Responses to ISO/IEC 8652, Programming Language
Ada.

This has been endorsed by SC22, by JTC1, and it is expected
to be endorsed soon by the central secretariat.

Electronic Distribution of Documents

Convener's summary of status from meeting #32: There was
general support for ISO's intention to perform more work via electronic
correspondence. For our own correspondence, it was generally agreed
that:

proprietary formats such as WordPerfect and Microsoft Word
should be avoided, especially for formal documents;

plain text files are acceptable;

HTML files are acceptable;

PostScript is probably the best choice for non-revisable formatted
documents. (PC users should obtain the GhostScript and GhostView
programs in order to conveniently view and print PostScript.)

From N335, WG9 Convener's Report
of SC22 Plenary Meeting: In behalf of WG9, I requested that
SC22 support a request to JTC1 to add PostScript to the list of
acceptable formats for the electronic distribution of documents.
This request was NOT approved. Apparently, this issue is old and
contentious and few people want to reconsider it. In a straw vote
within SC22, a slight majority of delegations supported the request
but the margin was considered too narrow to constitute grounds
for a strong request to JTC1 to change the existing plan of action.
One of the other Working Group conveners has agreed to provide
an FTP mechanism which we may use to produce PDF from PostScript
documents.

From Convener: As you know, SC22 has rejected our request
for their support in adding PostScript to the list of acceptable
formats for distributing documents. Their action effectively kills
the issue. Therefore, to circulate any document at the level of
SC22 or above, we must be able to place it in one of the acceptable
formats. Those formats include:

The difficulties in using Word, WordPerfect or RTF for drafts
of complex documents have been extensively discussed in WG9. This
suggests that, in the future, we might want to distribute documents
in the form of PDF.

Documents circulated only within WG9 can be in any form that we
find acceptable, including PostScript.

Currently, documents submitted to ISO Central Secretariat for
publication may be in a wide variety of formats, but this may
change. When we decide to submit a Technical Corrigenda,
we will have to submit it in PDF or one of the other formats.

Clyde Roby volunteered to provide a facility to
convert PostScript files to PDF.

It was noted that the converter
provided by another WG did not work for Ted Baker when he ran
a POSIX document through it.

Revised Procedures for the Progress of Documents

From SC22 Chairman's report from JTC1 Plenary: JTC1 approved
a requirement that its standards development groups develop an
"Executive Summary" to accompany standards. This will
be a separate document for information and distribution purposes,
although it could also be used in the standard itself as an introduction.
The intent is to use the executive summary in external communication
and information efforts. Although it will be required during the
review period and may be subject to comment, its content will
not be part of the ballot on the standard.

From SC22 Chairman's report from JTC1 Plenary: JTC1 decided
that Technical Corrigenda under ballot in an SC will no longer
be distributed at the JTC1 level, with the proviso that JTC1 must
be kept informed of any Technical Corrigenda under development
and/or submitted to ITTF for publication.

Reorganization of JTC1

Jim Moore noted that the reorganization has occurred in order to
focus on those standards of more importance (to the
commercial community).

From SC22 Chairman's report from JTC1 Plenary: SCs 14,
18, 21, and 30 are disbanded (either immediately or following
one additional plenary) and two new SCs are created: SC32 on Data
Management Services and SC33 on Distributed Application Services.
Other ad hoc and special working groups were disbanded.

From Convener: SC21 had been responsible for the Ada binding
to IRDS.

It was noted during the WG9 meeting that the standardization
activities for IRDS will probably end up in SC32.

Progress of Numerics Standards

From Convener: DIS 13813 and DIS 13814 were overwhelmingly
approved in balloting. Both ballots were approved by 20 votes
in favor and 1 vote against. The national body voting against
the two documents will reverse its vote when a straightforward
change is made to them. The next step is for the Project Editors,
Don Sando and Jon Squire, to prepare Disposition of Comments reports
and revise the text for publication as an IS.

Accelerated Balloting of ASIS

From Convener: SC22 approved our request for concurrent
CD registration and Final CD balloting of WD 15291. That ballot
is currently underway and will conclude on March 9, 1998.

JTC1 requires each working group to maintain a standing list
of documents. Jim Moore is planning to keep as few as possible;
he will roll over unfinished resolutions and action items
from meeting to meeting. These will always be included in
the minutes of each meeting as well as the draft agenda for
the following meeting.

From convener: This is the "To Do" list for WG9.
Some are informal action items assigned to various participants.
Some are formal resolutions which are not yet implemented. Some
are suspense items awaiting action by other groups.

Open Action Items

ACTION 31-8 [Moore]:

After resolution of the ISO copyright issue, determine a schedule
for preparation of a technical corrigenda to the Ada standard,
ISO/IEC 8652.

Status: A request for relief from ISO copyright policy has
been made, endorsed by SC22, endorsed by JTC1, and forwarded to
ISO Central Secretariat for disposition. This remains open;
Jim Moore is working with Erhard Ploedereder to resolve this item.

Unimplemented Resolutions

RESOLUTION 32-4:

The following guidance is provided to the Ada Rapporteur Group
in dealing with Ada Issues: it should be possible to write portable
bindings to C programs. The Ada Rapporteur Group is requested
to propose an appropriate mechanism.

Status: ARG will consider this at its meeting beginning on
14 November.

RESOLUTION 32-5:

WG9 forwards a proposed New Work Item, "Guidance for the
Use of Ada in High Integrity Systems," to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22
and recommends that SC22 propose its approval by JTC1. WG9 is
prepared to accept the responsibility for the performance of this
project.

Status: The New Work Item is currently being balloted. Approval
is anticipated at JTC1; it has already been attained at SC22.

RESOLUTION 32-6:

WG9 provides the following direction to the Annex H Rapporteur
Group (HRG) for the performance of any project resulting from
approval of the proposed New Work Item on "Guidance for the
Use of Ada in High Integrity Systems":

WG9 directs the HRG to present the resolution of this Work Item
in a positive fashion which includes some abstraction of the regulatory
rules; the resolution shall demonstrate:

how Ada supports these abstractions

how other languages support these abstractions

usage paradigms for resolutions of these abstractions with
a subset of Ada

Status: This issue will be considered at the next meeting of
the HRG. It was noted that a formal response to this item would
be a document.

RESOLUTION 32-8:

WG9 authorizes the Convener, in his judgment, to request simultaneous
processing of any or all of the following steps in the progress
of project 15291: CD registration, CD ballot, final CD ballot.

Status: CLOSED. Convener requested, and SC22 approved,
concurrent balloting for CD registration and Final CD ballot.
That balloting is now underway.

At this meeting of WG9, Currie gave a brief overview of the
ASIS related activites that occurred at Tri-Ada'97.

Resolution from Meeting #32: The disposition of comments
on the ASIS Working Draft ballot is approved by WG9 and the Project
Editor of project 15291 is authorized to forward Version 2.0.N
of the draft to the SC22 secretariat for CD registration.

Currie noted that Version 2.0.P of ASIS was actually forwarded.

Resolution from Meeting #32: WG9 authorizes the Convener,
in his judgment, to request simultaneous processing of any or
all of the following steps in the progress of project 15291: CD
registration, CD ballot, final CD ballot.

From convener: In preparation for the expedited balloting
process used for ASIS, ISO Central Secretariat performed an editorial
review of the working draft.

From N328 and N329,
1997 Convener's Report: WG9 requests approval for simultaneous
CD registration and FCD balloting of the Working Draft 15291.

From N335, WG9 Convener's Report
of SC22 Plenary Meeting: In behalf of WG9, I requested that
the CD registration ballot and the Final CD Balloting for project
JTC1.22.15291 (ASIS) be conducted concurrently. This request was
approved. We can anticipate that this ballot will commence in
September if we promptly provide the draft for balloting.

From N335, WG9 Convener's Report
of SC22 Plenary Meeting: In behalf of WG9, I requested that
Erhard Ploedereder and Bob Duff be named as the Project Editors
of project JTC1.22.10.01 (the Ada standard). This request was
approved.

ACTION 31-8 [Moore]: After resolution of the ISO copyright
issue, determine a schedule for preparation of a technical corrigenda
to the Ada standard, ISO/IEC 8652.

Status: A request for relief from ISO copyright policy
has been made, endorsed by SC22, endorsed by JTC1, and forwarded
to ISO Central Secretariat for disposition.

Convener's summary of status from meeting #32: The ARG
reported that most of its remaining backlog of Ada Issues will
be resolved before the next meeting. Their plan is to produce
an initial working draft of a Technical Corrigendum by July 1998
and to complete its approval and publication by the year 2000.
The document would be a collection of issues and responses like
the Corrigendum to the C language prepared in another working
group of SC22.

Resolution passed at meeting #32: The following guidance
is provided to the Ada Rapporteur Group in dealing with Ada Issues:
it should be possible to write portable bindings to C programs.
The Ada Rapporteur Group is requested to propose an appropriate
mechanism.

Status: ARG will consider this at its meeting beginning
on 14 November.

Report of ARG Chair: The ARG has not met since the June
WG9 meeting. Its next meeting is scheduled to begin right after
the WG9 meeting in St. Louis. The ARG is still plagued by diminishing
funding for its members.

Mainly out of the Henley meeting in April, the ARG submits the
following AIs for approval by WG9.

Erhard also noted that funding is a problem, particularly
for Bob Duff.

Erhard noted the French comment and stated that the premise of the
comment is false. Precise new wording is not generally placed in
AIs. The wording if provided is only viewed as a suggestion (to avoid
spending a lot of time on wordsmithing). But it is funny that the
wording section in this AI is left empty. It will be changed to: "(See
summary)".

Resolution from meeting #32: WG9 forwards a proposed New
Work Item, "Guidance for the Use of Ada in High Integrity
Systems," to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 and recommends that SC22 propose
its approval by JTC1. WG9 is prepared to accept the responsibility
for the performance of this project. (The submitted NWI is N332.)

Resolution from meeting #32: WG9 provides the following
direction to the Annex H Rapporteur Group (HRG) for the performance
of any project resulting from approval of the proposed New Work
Item on "Guidance for the Use of Ada in High Integrity Systems":

WG9 directs the HRG to present the resolution of this Work Item
in a positive fashion which includes some abstraction of the regulatory
rules; the resolution shall demonstrate:

how Ada supports these abstractions

how other languages support these abstractions

usage paradigms for resolutions of these abstractions with
a subset of Ada

From N328 and N329,
1997 Convener's Report: WG9 recommends approval of the New
Work Item proposal for "Guidance for the use of Ada in High
Integrity Systems" and is prepared to accept responsibility
for a project resulting from the proposed NWI.

From Convener: JTC1 has asked that the NWI and the justification
(N332) be resubmitted in the form of HTML.
The Chair of the HRG has complied. The resulting document is N337.

SC22 ballot on the New Work Item: Due October 28, SC22
Letter Ballot N2494 - Approval of a
Proposal for a NWI on "Guidance for the use of Ada in High
Integrity Systems" - Type 3 Technical Report.

SC22 support of the NWI:
SC22 Document N2605, "Summary of
Voting" shows that seven member bodies agree to participate,
that the UK has offered a Project Editor, Gareth Rowlands, and
that Canada has offered to contribute a document. Accordingly,
the SC22 Secretariat has forwarded the
NWI to JTC1 for their approval.

Steve Michell noted that US did not vote on the NWI.
HRG would very much like participation from the US.

The following schedule was put forward:

Now to January: rewrite existing document and internal review.

January 31: goes to HRG mailing list

March 9-11: review meeting in Netherlands, near Amsterdam

April 30: send revised document to WG9 electronically
for approval for submission for CD registration.

June 10-11: meeting immediately before WG9
in Uppsalla to discuss any issues

Steve Michell and Jim Moore will communicate via email to develop
an overall schedule. Perhaps the HRG document will
be complete by the end of 1999.

From Convener: DIS 13813 and DIS 13814 were overwhelmingly
approved in balloting. Both ballots were approved by 20 votes
in favor and 1 vote against. The national body voting against
the two documents will reverse its vote when a straightforward
change is made to them. The next step is for the Project Editors,
Don Sando and Jon Squire, to prepare Disposition of Comments reports
and revise the text for publication as an IS.

The following from the French delegation:

Some members expressed concerns because the summary of voting on the
numerics proposal did not include a mention that our proposed revised
(French) title had been accepted. I think it is normal for this
document, but please make sure that we get a notice of it being formally
accepted (maybe a motion at the meeting).

The Project Editors can probably deal with this issue in their Disposition of
Comments reports, which are not yet prepared.

From Convener: DIS 13813 and DIS 13814 were overwhelmingly
approved in balloting. Both ballots were approved by 20 votes
in favor and 1 vote against. The national body voting against
the two documents will reverse its vote when a straightforward
change is made to them. The next step is for the Project Editors,
Don Sando and Jon Squire, to prepare Disposition of Comments reports
and revise the text for publication as an IS.

From Jon Squire: I have read and understand all the requested
changes. I just need a day to make them very carefully, so I do
not introduce and new problems. Should be finished by the end
of October, so you can report that changes have been made.

The following from the French delegation:

Some members expressed concerns because the summary of voting on the
numerics proposal did not include a mention that our proposed revised
(French) title had been accepted. I think it is normal for this
document, but please make sure that we get a notice of it being formally
accepted (maybe a motion at the meeting).

The Project Editors can probably deal with this issue in their Disposition of
Comments reports, which are not yet prepared.

WG9 has determined that the revision of 12227 is currently unnecessary;
this decision will be reconsidered periodically.

From N335, WG9 Convener's Report
of SC22 Plenary Meeting: In behalf of WG9, I requested that
Andreas Koeller be named as the Project Editor of project JTC1.22.31
(SAMeDL). This request was approved.

Convener's summary of status from meeting #32: None of
the national bodies is interested in further work on SQL/Ada bindings
beyond the current IS 12227 (SAMeDL) standard and the bindings
included in the IS 9075 (SQL) standard.

Jim Moore noted that when this comes up for renewal,
we will either vote to withdraw it or to reaffirm it.

The C++ and the C standardization groups had been on a
diverging path (C++ is supposed to be upward compatible
with C). The two groups have decided to carve out a core
part of the language which will support both standardization
efforts, from which both groups will add from their
respective directions.

From Ted Baker: The POSIX standards continue to be primarily
oriented to the C language, though work on Ada bindings continues
alongside.

The IEEE is conducting reaffirmation ballots for IEEE STD 1003.9
(Fortran binding to 1003.1) and IEEE STD 1003.5 (Ada binding to
1003.1). Ted noted at this WG9 meeting that these have gone forward.

The reaffirmation ballot for 1003.5 has been combined with reaffirmation
of IEEE STD 1003.5b-1996, so that the combined document will be
in sync. There was one negative vote on the ballot, so the negative
comments are currently being recirculated. The result should be
known by the time of the WG9 meeting.

IEEE STD 1003.5-1992, which corresponds to SC22 NP 22.21.04.02,
was balloted in JTC1 as ISO/IEC DIS 14519-1 under the fast-track
procedure, starting back in 1993. The ballot was completed, but
the standard was never published by ISO. (I don't know why.)

The combined document IEEE STD 1003.5-1992 as amended by IEEE
STD 1003.5b-1996 -- the same document that is going through IEEE
reaffirmation ballot -- is now being submitted for fast-track
ballot in JTC1, as DIS 14519. The vote started on 18 September
1997 and terminates on 18 March 1998.

There are several Ada language binding projects in the IEEE that
do not have corresponding SC22 work items. These include:

1003.5c -- Ada binding for 1003.5g (Protocol-Independent Interfaces).
This is about to start a second round of IEEE ballot, after reformation
of the balloting group to drop nonresponders.

If there is sufficient international interest, perhaps one or
more of these should be considered. There are several other POSIX
standards for which Ada binding projects might be appropriate.
Volunteers are welcome.

Ada standards people are accustomed to being told that Ada has
lost the "language wars" to C (or is that C++? or is
that Java?). The POSIX folks are getting a taste of the same situation
now.

IEEE PASC, which sponsors the POSIX standards, has been under
pressure from commercial interests (most vocally Hewlett-Packard)
to stop making new standards. The contention is that Microsoft
has won the OS war, UNIX is a "dead" operating system,
and that attempts to further improve a dead OS cause trouble for
the vendors (like HP) who are trying to get out of the business
of producing and maintaining operating systems. Apparently, these
hardware vendors are unhappy that the "dead" OS won't
keep still.

Reaffirmation of P1003.5 and P1003.5b has been
completed and sent to the IEEE Standards Board.

From convener's note of 25 August 1997: I know that some
of you are interested in the topic of "internationalization"
of Ada and other programming languages. Perhaps you would be willing
to comment on the attached material.

WG20 has already written a Draft Technical Report on the provisions
that programming languages should make to achieve the goals of
internationalization. In order to ease the implementation of such
provisions, they are considering proposing a new work item to
provide an API for access to internationalization information
and cultural conventions.

On the other hand, they are not interested in pursuing the NWI
if none of the language WGs would be willing to use it. Therefore,
they are looking for comment from the other WGs. Please send your
comments to me. I will bundle them and forward them to WG20.

Liaison report copied from the minutes of WG14: Plum reported
that the second CD ballot for the pending C++ standard has closed.
The committee has received a long list of public comments on the
second CD, but the good news is that there appear to be no diametrically
opposed comments in this set of ballots. Plum believes most delegations
are satisfied with the current draft pending the resolution of
its comments. The committee meets again in two weeks to organize
the comments from the second CD and begin to resolve them. The
committee plans to complete a new draft by November, at which
time the SC22 Secretariat will determine if the new draft satisfies
the requirements for a DIS.

From N335, WG9
Convener's Report of SC22 Plenary Meeting: Some of you may
be interested in the status of the CD balloting of the C++ document.
The WG convener reported that about ten issues remain to be resolved;
the others have been unanimously resolved. It is expected that
the final issues will be resolved and the document will go to
Final DIS ballot shortly after their planned November 1997. There
is some consideration of a plan whereby the WGs for C and C++
will collocate their meetings and a plan whereby the C++ WG and
the C WG would agree that the responsibility for maintenance of
the common portions of the languages would be delegated to the
C WG.

From a press release by Tom Plum, convener
of WG21: The process of standardizing
the C++ programming language began eight years ago, in late 1989.
The international C++ Working Group is ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG21;
the USA C++ Technical Committee is J16. This week, J16 has been
meeting co-located with WG21. All the delegations present at this
meeting have decided that the technical content of the standard
for C++ is now complete and stable. Thus, the C++ Working Paper
will be approved at this week's meeting, to be forwarded to ISO/IEC
JTC1 to become a "Final Draft International Standard"
(FDIS). No further changes can be made to an FDIS.

During the week of the WG9 meeting, the Final DIS for C++
was submitted; it is very likely that we shall see an
international standard for C++ by the end of 1998.

From N335, WG9 Convener's Report
of SC22 Plenary Meeting: Some of you may be interested in
the status of issues related to Java. The convener of the Java
study group reported that the request of Sun Microsystems for
recognition as a PAS submitter was disapproved with comments from
several nations. At this time, Sun has not yet responded. The
JSG convener also reported that ECMA (European Computer Manufacturers
Association) has approved standard 262 on ECMAScript, the language
commonly known as JavaScript. Their standard is publicly available
on the ECMA web site and will be submitted to JTC1 for fast-track
processing.

From Liaison Report of the Convener of the Java Study Group:
JTC1 is in the process of polling each of its members about whether
their votes on Sun's application to be recognized as a PAS submitter
would change based on Sun's reply to the previous ballot. That
issue doesn't close until November 11. Details are available on
both the JavaSoft and JTC1 TAG Web sites and in the trade press.

The Java Study Group is waiting to determine its future role until
this issue is resolved.

WG9 members who have not already done so are encourage to participate
or follow the work of the Java Study Group by subscribing to our
mailing list as described on our Web page http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/jsg.

From Jim Moore: IEEE Std 990 on the use of Ada as a PDL
will be administratively withdrawn during 1998 because it has
reached its maximum age of 5 years. There is no known interest
in revising the standard to the level of Ada 95.

I am the Ada representative (AdaJPO/WG9 represenative) to IEEE Standards
Coordinating Committee 20, the Automatic Text Equipment (ATLAS)
Comittee. Since 1989, IEEE has had a standards project to do an Ada
binding to the ATE language ATLAS. This was once Project 1226, and
produced IEEE Stds 1226.1 and 1226.2. The 1226 Group has been
redirected to non-Ada things (and may be near death). The Ada/ATLAS
portion was given a new IEEE project number, P1446, working in the same
group.

Recently, there has been a falling off of interest and participation as
the Ada Mandate slipped, starting with the removal of the Ada
requirement for the ATE for F-22. But there was still some interest and
the project has continued slowly. With the final end of the Ada Mandate
(and after a few months of thinking about it), industry has completely
abandoned any interest in Ada/ATLAS and P1446. As a result, the Project
will be withdrawn at the SCC20 meeting next week.

The ARA met on the evening of Wednesday, 12 November, 1997. During
this meeting, the ARA focused on the issues associated with the
closing of the AJPO which is scheduled for October 1998. The primary
issues of concern were:

The $15M promised in the NRC Report

Validation

The other AJPO tasks and materials

Ada awareness

ARA membership

Information about each of these issues of concern:

Tucker Taft has agreed to contact the Undersecretary of Defense
for Acquisition Technology (Gansler) to address the distribution of
the $15M.

The ARA is very interested in maintaining the commonality between
implementations of the Ada language, the continuance of the Ada
validation, and the maintenance of the ACVC test suite. To address
the needs of maintaining the test suite and the validation of
compilation systems, the ARA is developing validation policy and
procedures to be completed in December 1997. Formal announcement of
the policy and procedures will be early in 1998. The AJPO, AVFs, and
AVO have accepted the proposal of the ARA assuming the
responsibilities for validation of compilation systems and the
maintenance of the test suites. As part of the procedures to be
defined, there will be a mechanism to add test suites to the
validation test suite. In addition, as mentioned earlier, the ARA is
interested in continuing the commonality between vendors. To this
end, the ARA will work together to introduce new pragmas and similar
capabilities when appropriate.

The ARA is interested in the development of an ARA web site that
is the master site for Ada. The set of Ada advocacy documentation
currently available from the AJPO will be put into HTML format to be
posted on this site. The ARA will work with the AJPO to determine
what other AJPO material should be moved into HTML format for the ARA
site. A Request for Proposal (RFP) will be distributed within two
weeks to parties interested in developing and maintaining this web
site.

Ben Brosgol presented the current state of the Ada Awareness
Program of SIGAda. Part of this program is to attend conferences
where Ada-philes do not generally attend to increase the visibility of
Ada. The plans for 1998 have a short-fall in resources to support
these activities. The ARA has agreed to support this program by
contributing $15K to SIGAda. In return, SIGAda has agreed to include
an ARA brochure for distribution at the SIGAda booth and to allow the
ARA influence the selection of conferences to attend.

The final activity of the ARA is to refine the definition of
membership to the ARA. A charter of the ARA is to be developed and
distributed in December 1997. The associate fee structure, by-laws,
and other association activities will be addressed early in 1998.

The ARA also agreed to support Bob Duff in his activities with the
ARG. Further discussion with Bob is required to determine the
appropriate level of support.

The next meeting of the ARA is scheduled to occur during the
STC conference in April 1998.

The following item was added to the agenda for subsequent discussion:
U. S. suggestion for work on interfaces to Java, C++ and ODBC.
In particular, the US proposed that a new working group be established
to investigate the creation of an officially approved set of packages
for Java, C++, and ODBC; the working group could define the set of
packages to be delivered to the ARA.

Jim Moore, as chair, followed up with this as an administrative action.

The following Rapporteur Group Chairs are reappointed: Erhard
Ploedereder (ARG), Currie Colket (ASIS RG), and Brian Wichmann
(Annex H RG). The responsibility for designating additional members
of the RG is delegated to the respective RG chairs.

An Interface Rapporteur Group (IRG) is to be created
under the temporary chair of David Emery with membership of Vincent
Celier, and others to be designated by National Bodies in the upcoming weeks.
The IRG is directed to present recommendations at the June WG9
meeting to include the following: